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Winter tires and tpms

4K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  2priusowner 
#1 ·
I am new to the forum, having just purchased a 2020 Prius Prime XLE. I like the car very much. When it comes to winter tires and wheels, though, I have a question which relates to the tire pressure monitor sensor (TPMS) which must be mounted on each new wheel. Given the importance of these sensors, and what I gather about their unavailability to aftermarket tire vendors, would you recommend purchasing tires, wheels, and sensors from my Toyota while incurring additional expense, or is there a cheaper alternative. Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Welcome.

The most economical way to do that is to NOT get a new set of wheels and have the "winter" set mounted on the same wheels.
The sensors will stay with the wheels.

BUT.....where do you live ? And what's the winter weather usually like ??

I am NOT a big fan of "winter tires" because they will be better in some conditions and worse in others.

I suggest looking at what you have now: If they are stamped "all season" or M+S, then just leave them alone.
If you get some that are better in the snow, they will be worse on ice.
 
#3 ·
I live in Illinois, Champaign more precisely, about 150 miles due south of Chicago. I am more concerned about ice tires (like the Michelin ICE tire) and I want to mount these on new wheels. As you suggest, this may not be the most cost-efficient way to handle winter tires; certainly it has smoke coming out of the ears of the best local wheel/tire company, who can't sort this out for me and accept a $1K deal. If no one has any experience with this, then I guess it is not a good idea. But if someone does, I would appreciate knowing about it.
 
#4 ·
I lived in CU for about 50 years......give or take.....and except for studs or tire chains there is no such thing as "ice tires".
They might allow you to go 25 mph before you slide off the road......instead of 20 MPH with "normal" tires.

So.....the solution to your dilemma is to visit a Toyota dealer and ask them the cost of a second complete set of TPMS sensors mounted in your set of winter wheels/tires and the procedure for switching the monitor over to the new set.

Bottom line: The TPMS does NOT have to be operational for the car to work properly. I think many people just ignore that little warning light during the time they have their "winter" set of wheels on the car.

Now soapbox time:
When the weather really is THAT bad, your car, your health and even your life is at risk.
Except maybe for hospital workers or first responders, there really is NOTHING important enough to risk you life to go out in a blizzard.
AND.....the public service workers usually do a good job too. Wait 24 hours and it usually is MUCH safer to go out.......even with "normal" tires.

At this point, I expect that like a really LOT of folks who come to places like this to ask questions, they don't REALLY want sage, good advice......their mind is already made up and all they really want is encouragement to continue down the path they have chosen.

Good luck. Please don't let the winter weather KILL you.
 
#5 ·
That's reasonable advice if you can. I have a Prime which we took to Canada on all weather tires. Year 1 super in the snow. Year two not so much. Could not get up the drive to our hotel after it snowed while we were out. Barely 2 inches of snow on the ground. Had to leave the car elsewhere and walk. Ski trips are in hilly areas and with older tires 15000 miles when the dunlops refused to get us up the hill. Nothing like looking forward to getting stranded on a Canadian ski resort parking lot because it snowed after we arrived.

I need winter tires and wanted to put them on separate rims so that i can do the change at home and not be swapping tires on and off rims. Based on this conversation it seem that option is not going to work unless we ignore the tire senor light.
 
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